Conflicted Jill Chasson Departs As Chair of USA Swimming’s National Board of Review
July 13, 2013Meet the New USA Swimming National Board of Review Chair — Worse Than the Old USA Swimming National Board of Review Chair
July 14, 2013
Scott Reid of the Orange County Register quotes State Senator Jim Beall, sponsor of SB 131, on the implications of USA Swimming’s hire of super-lobbyist Nielsen Merkshamer:
“I would suspect that (USA Swimming’s) interest is from a concern that there may be some cases in which they’re culpable. There’s definitely smoke there that there’s a problem. USA Swimming needs to decide if they’re going to stand with the abusers of kids or the kids in their swim clubs. Which side of the street are they going to stand on? Because right now it seems like they’re standing with the molesters and predators, that side of the fence.”
(The link at ocregister.com is subscribers-only.)
Swimmer-blogger Tony Austin has two excellent explanatory posts, at http://scaq.blogspot.com/2013/07/usa-swimming-hires-two-mercenaries-to.html and http://scaq.blogspot.com/2013/07/does-usa-swimming-catholic-church-have.html. In the first post, Austin ponders the fatal step USA Swimming has taken by openly engaging win-at-all-costs mercenaries. In the second, Austin demolishes the idea that Colorado Springs’ proposed “amendments” to Sacramento do anything other than protect the bushes in front of the Olympic blazers’ private dachas, while undermining the public’s interest in eradicating widespread abuse and cover-up.
This is not a local problem. Surely, Congressman George Miller and others in Washington, D.C. are watching, listening, and preparing to take action on the national level.
Irv Muchnick